r/ladderapp

What it says on the tin! I’ve been bouncing around teams, trying to find that perfect blend of a coach/program that pushes me and also makes me excited for working out.

I’ve tried:

• Ascend
• Flourish
• Align
• Ignite
• Body and Bell

I am an intermediate lifter with full gym access and just sustained an injury so I’m re-evaluating what I want in my team and my key focus is just finding that team that makes me want to hit 4-6 days while still feeling stronger after every workout.

How long did it take for y’all to know “this is my home?”

Just thought of making a mini guide on the actual philosophy of the teams. Teams do not purely follow these philosophies as they usually add in coach’s personal experiences and knowledge as well, but think of this as the base:

1. Forged: Traditional body building. Slow and controlled weightlifting, with focus on hypertrophy rather than pure strength. (You could gain strength by focusing on 1 rep max and not doing sufficient volume. But Forged ensures you get sufficient volume).

2. Resilient: Westside Barbell Conjugate System. It is a powerlifting program meant to help you max out compound lifts like squats, bench press, deadlift. It also does hypertrophy and other ancillary workout, but those lifts are designed in a way to aid you maxout compound lifts. The benefit is that you will build an overall strong and athletic body, and hitting compounds hard is bragging rights in the gym community.

3. Vantage: Leanmaxing and Kinobody method. Meant on producing lean athletic physique. Mostly 3 days of workout with emphasis on recovery and diet. Focus on getting really good and hitting PRs on 5 lifts in total. Diet focused on sustainability and modern day city life. Also focus on holistic health such as vitamin d from the sun, hormone release from outside sprints, boosting leptin by eating treats.

4. Crews Control: Functional fitness and Crossfit. Uses these philosophies, but it is not Crossfit. Crossfit has random workouts, Crews control takes movements from Crossfit and gives them a structure in a way you could progressively overload. It is way better than Crossfit for gains because it takes out the junk volume and randomness out of it.

5. Varsity: College style athleticism program that will build strength and train fast twitch muscles. Great for people training for a sport like basketball, soccer, boxing etc.

I haven’t tested out most of the female teams so I don’t know much about them. But thought of sharing this so that people might be able to research more and understand the real philosophy behind workouts.

Understanding these philosophies was really helpful for me to choose my team because I was constantly confused about what to do. But once I researched more into these I got more clarity.

Hello Ladder friends!

I have been on the app for about 6 months, and I have trained on team Ascend and team Evolve. A little background on me, I am 31F and I come from a weightlifting background of a little over 10 years. My main goal is body recomp.

My first team was Ascend with Aria, and I stuck it out about 4 months there. I started experiencing burnout with the workout lengths, so I switched to Evolve with Sam. I did Evolve for 1 series and made the switch back to Ascend. Here is my personal comparison of the teams.

1. Coach Cues - Both are great, but Arias cues worked better for me. She does a great job of explaining how to target a specific muscle a stretch.

2. Coach Personality - Also love both of them. The key difference for me is that Aria feels a bit more straight to business and strict, whereas Sam feels a bit more spiritual and encouraging. I think both styles are great and supportive, but I personally perform better with Arias coaching.

3. Exercise Split - Aria is VERY lower body focused. Sam is either equal parts upper body/lower body or maybe a little more upper body heavy? Also, Sam incorporates more ab work than Aria, and Aria incorporates more cardio (small amounts of incline walking from what I experienced).

4. Exercise Content - I’m torn here. I started feeling burnout with Aria due to the frequency of some moves. For example, 1 week might contain a version of deadlifts, squats, and hip thrusts on 3 different days each. Also, many of those big exercises have unilateral sets. So, a leg day might contain 3 sets of rear elevated squats on each side, 3 sets of cable kickbacks on each side, and 3 sets of weighted step ups on each side (plus a few more exercises). Sam’s workouts had some unilateral movements, but not to this extent. Overall, Aria’s workout plan can feel repetitive and “boring”, but she is using traditional movements that get you results.

5. Workout Flow - This is the biggest thing I noticed that made me switch back to Aria. I go to a large commercial gym with a lot of equipment variety, and I’m largely able to perform the intended exercise without doing swaps. I have to praise Aria big time here, because she does an amazing job of building your workout so you can stay at the same 2-3 machines the entire workout. Sam’s workouts are technically shorter, but I found myself at the gym for the same amount of time due to waiting around on machines. Then I would end up doing swaps to keep things moving, which frustrated me. As an example, Aria will put 3-4 exercises in a row at the squat rack, then move you to a cable machine for 2 more movements, and then you are done. Sam would put me at shoulder press at the squat rack, then 2 movements at an adjustable bench, then chest fly machine, then 1 movement at the cable machine, then abs on the ground. My busy gym is not compatible with me moving around that much. Another small note is that the rest break flow worked better for me with Aria than Sam. I was originally bored of Aria’s rest break times, but she has her process for a reason, and I realized I am able to push myself harder with her.

I think both teams and coaches are GREAT, and I hope my review can help others get more clarity on what to expect with each team. Overall, Ascend is a better fit for me, due to Aria’s stricter coaching personality, her exercise content (lots of traditional bodybuilding moves that yield results and heavy focus on lower body), and her strategic flow as someone who attends a busy gym.

I’ve been on Resilient for Max, and I really love a lot about it. I love how strong I feel, I love the lower body days, and I think Neen is just great. However, I find myself struggling a little bit due to the volume and time. The upper body days especially feel like a lot. I don’t feel like it’s sustainable for me after this series. I don’t have time in the mornings before work - really only have a max of 45 minutes, plus at 5 am, Resilient is just tough! I’ve been working out after work this series but find that it’s more likely that I will miss days here and there just because of life demands/sports for kids/etc. I also feel like there’s no time to add cardio which I personally want. What other teams would be good for me? I’m thinking Limitless or Crews Control (although I’ve tried a workout here and there and Andre is a lot for me). I don’t love pure bodybuilding - I do like strength and functional training more. I’ve done Vitality and Body and Bell also for full series and love both, but I felt like Vitality wasn‘t quite enough. Maybe it would be now that I can customize the app more. Or maybe keep Resilient lower body days and swap another team’s upper body days. Would love suggestions here!

I want to move one of my non-priority workouts to one of the rest days, and change that one to a rest day. Is that possible? Or do I just have to take it on the day I want, no matter when it’s scheduled? I’m new and doing the free trial!

I‘ve signed up for Ladder trial, feeling torn between Transform, Ascend, Evolve, and Limitless.

After trialing the teams and doing a few workouts, Aria feels like an instant match in regards to cue, clarity, and personality.

But her workouts are too long and physically demanding. I know there are other similar teams like Transform and Era, but I want to train with Aria because of how clear her cues are and how her form seems solid?

Anyone have any advice?

I’ve just signed up to Ladder and I'm trying to decide between Team Era and Team Ascend…

For context, I'm a beginner. I went to the gym for about 2-3 months this year, but my workouts were put together by ChatGPT and I had no real nutrition plan, so I wasn't sure what I was doing and didn't see results. I got discouraged and stopped.

This time I want to focus on body recomp: losing fat and building muscle, while keeping a balanced, toned body rather than a bulky build. And structure and nutrition guidance matter a lot to me, since that's what I was missing.

Which team do you think would be the best for my goal, and why?

Thanks so much! 🙏

As someone who has transformed my body before I know the power of compound movements and lifting heavy (limitless) will really give you the physique you want (or me wants)- however I also used to do traditional body building so I love programs like Ascend and I miss just certain movements when I go all in on limitless. Like an upper body day just hits sometimes!!!!

Is anyone else stuck between these two and have you found a solution?

I know the importance of also just following a program so I hate to jump around :/

I‘m going with Coach Aria from Ascend for developing lower body strength, and that will be my main team.

But I would like to swap out some of her workout days to add more cardio WITHOUT treadmill, elliptical, or any cardio machines. I want my cardio to use weights or bodyweight only, as in, a fast paced lifting workout that pumps up my heart rate.

I am also looking for a workout to add once a week that involves some complicated movements using dumbbells.

What teams are good for that?

I’ve been dealing with a lower body injury for the last 3 months. I’ve done some random upper body workouts from ladder or just random upper lifts. I’ve also been doing PT for lower. I recently found out I may need surgery 😩

I want to start locking in on upper body and core workouts on ladder while I do PT for lower and prep for potential surgery.

My go to team is align, which just isn’t the best for isolating upper. I also like transform and empwr. I have an easily irritated shoulder so generally avoid teams with heavy shoulder days vs overall upper days but I’m willing to try different splits.

With that, what team do you recommend, knowing I’d skip leg days? I don’t have a full gym but have barbells, dumbells and a few kettlebells.